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Friday, April 13, 2012

First Time Ever on the Beach

Jowls flapping, panting, racing along the waterline with fear widened eyes. That was me this morning when I tried to catch up with Nougat who took Bofa and Horton for a quick kilometer run (felt like it) as fast as possible away from the Human.

My body was going into shock because of the sheer and utter abuse of  such physical exertion after years of easy living. Somewhere in my head, maybe a message from the universe, a whining alarm went off that informed me that trying to catch a wayward Basset way ahead of me was utter foolishness and wishful thinking. A spark of inspiration hit me - probably because I was chugging along at such a slow speed that it could not miss me.

I stopped, bent down and started digging. I whistled, shouted 'Come LOOK' and made sure that I scooped the sand so rigorously that  it made dramatic arches through the air. I was going after an imaginary crab or whatever other thing might have been living under the sand. Nougat and Bofa were not phased. They gave me the 'don't care' Basset stare and turned to continue their escape. They were not interested in most things the Human considered very interesting, like blogging. Horton though was easily fooled. He came racing toward me to check this thing in the sand. It must have been his surprised cock of the head at nothing in the sand that made Nougat and Bofa think there was something in the sand. I could not get those leashes back on fast enough wen they finally reached me. My dream of seeing my pups running leashless came true in a nightmarish way. It might have been four escaping Bassets if Butter did not refuse to move because she was too tired. Beware the Wayward Basset.

The trouble really started when I opened the canopy door to let them out. Nougat had gotten rid of her harness and Horton was wearing his like sexy suspenders around his hips. Nougat can be as slippery as a slope when she wants to be. Try put a harness back on her when she has her mind set on exploration and try doing it while hanging onto one of Horton's feet to keep him from running. I cannot exactly remember how that worked, but it did. Luckily their Nanny, Mrs. Q, is with us on this vacation and she could hang on to Butter and Bofa who were still harnessed and leashed. The easy-off harnesses is of the kind that fits only over the shoulders and works very well while you're looking at the dog. When you're not, they take it off because you're not watching. Of this I'm certain. 

Because of all this action there are no photos of the off-leash run. The one below is Horton's reaction when he first saw the sea from our holiday home. He could not believe his eyes, which is exactly the way I felt when I saw the three of them taking off with no intention of returning anytime soon.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ek sweer dis die funnyste post nog

Elize said...

Yummy yummy yummy! En ek kan die sexy suspenders al sien... He he
Hy moet dit seblief volgende keer na ons huisie toe aantrek!

Anonymous said...

Hehehehehe......ok ok so mmaybe I won't take the Scotties with me as considered!